Broderick has done much for justice system

Monday

Jun 28, 2010 at 3:15 AM

Come November, New Hampshire Chief Justice John Broderick will be hanging up his black robe and returning to private law practice.

If the stories reporting on Broderick's decision were headlining the sports pages, they would tell of a star athlete who is retiring at the top of his game. In this case, Broderick will be leaving with plenty of wins under his belt and having set a high bar for his replacement on the bench.

The chief justice's most recent victory came in defense of the state's court system. As its top administrative officer, Broderick challenged Gov. John Lynch over budget cuts. The chief justice appealed to the people of the state, visiting newspaper after newspaper to make his case about justice denied if the governor's plan was implemented.

In the end, Broderick's activism gave him the leverage to forge a compromise. But this accomplishment was only his latest.

Broderick started out as a Democratic activist before coming to the bench, but was able to forge a judicial career that brought praise from both Democrats and Republicans when he announced his decision to leave the high court.

GOP gubernatorial hopeful John Stephen praised Broderick's "commitment to public service through his 15 years serving the citizens on the state's Supreme Court."

Stephen described the jurist as "a strong advocate for ensuring that the public had access to justice" and noted that "He has been a tireless champion for children."

This early supporter of Democrat and soon-to-be President Bill Clinton was nominated to the high court in 1995 by a Republican, Gov. Steve Merrill, then to chief justice in 2004 by another Republican, Gov. Craig Benson.

Undoubtedly being able to put partisan politics aside helped open the door to Broderick's many successes.

Broderick was named chief justice at a time when the court was under fire for its Claremont education-funding decisions, decisions many felt were strictly political in nature. Today, Claremont is barely a blip on anyone's radar screen.

As chief justice, the state's court system has become more user friendly — rising to meet the demands of nonlawyers who choose to plead their own cases.

Earlier this year the judicial branch launched a redesigned website as part of Broderick's team effort to improve public access to information.

"Our goal with the redesign has always been to provide better services to the public through our website, especially for those citizens who are coming to court without lawyers," said Associate Supreme Court Justice Gary Hicks at the time.

To use another sports analogy, Broderick has a batting average that will be hard to surpass. Gov. Lynch needs to nominate a heavy hitter and a team leader — someone who can distance themselves from partisanship, as Broderick has done.

In the meantime, sincere thanks go to Chief Justice Broderick on behalf of those who use the New Hampshire court system and depend on its ability to dispense justice evenly and fairly.